In the second game of a three-game weekend series on Saturday, the Atlanta Braves took down the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-3.
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Pittsburgh came up empty in the first, a trend that would continue for a large part of the game. In the bottom of the inning, Atlanta got on the board first with an RBI sac fly from Ozzie Albies.
Moments later, Austin Riley made it a 2-0 game with an RBI single.
The Pirates made contact at the plate a few times in the second inning, but failed to get on base at all. Atlanta did the same in the bottom of the frame.
All three Pirates batters made contact in the third, but all of them were either caught or thrown out. To pile things on, the Braves scored another run in the third inning off a bad throw from Pirates catcher Endy Rodriguez.
In the top of the fourth, the Pirates finally got on the board when Nick Gonzales hit a one-run RBI double.
Two batters later, Tyler Callihan made it a 3-2 ballgame with a one-run RBI double of his own.
Atlanta’s next three batters were sent out and Pittsburgh tied it in the top of the fifth on an RBI sac fly from Brandon Lowe.
Tied 3-3 in the bottom of the inning, Albies sent in another runner with his own RBI sac fly. Dominic Smith stepped to the plate as the next man up and hit a 351′ two-run home run, taking a 6-3 lead.
While Atlanta was better at the plate overall, both squads went quiet for the next three innings.
Pittsburgh had one more chance to tie it or take the lead in the top of the ninth. Jake Mangum got on base with a single, but the other batters failed to find any success.
The Braves held on to win after batting .290 on the day.
James Parker is a sports writer for Ball Exclusives, follow him on X @TheJames_Parker
